Xesha Bahn: Big Game huntress
by Kitho-Mar
Summary: In the time of the Old Republic, secrets are dangerous things especially amongst the Sith. Shadows Haunt the void and seek to devour anyone foolish enough to cast light upon them. What then, is one to do when one is brought into the fold; made into a Shadow within the Force. (Set during the first three acts of the Star Wars the Old Republic Campaign.) Plz Read and review.


**Chapter I: **

**Fear**

My bare feet were calloused from days of marching across the surface of Korriban. Overseer Sylas had sent me on a special mission to a Grove of Darkness and retrieve what I found within. Nightmares haunted my sleep from the darkness and with the lack of sleep the and the lack of water, I felt Korriban might be close to claiming another body for its blood red sands.

I had thought myself prepared three weeks earlier to go to the Font. My lips had parted in a faint sneer when I heard I would be the only one to go on this mission, the rest were going to learn a special lesson. I had taken pride in this fact as I climbed aboard my speeder and surged across the rocky terrain to the goal. The trip however, had been plagued by one failure after another. First my speeder's powercell had mysteriously run dry five days from the academy. Then my aquifier (a device that pulled the miniscule moisture from the air and rendered it into drinkable water) became jammed and in the act of trying to repair it the slender device had broken.

When I had found the ruins that the Grove lurked within... Everything in my mind mysteriously blanked concerning the the events within. Something had happened though, four days worth of the moons movement had occured in a single night. Logic dictated something had to have happened. Either way the I knew I must have overcome because I had awoken outside the ruins battered, burned, and clutching a grey crystal so forcefully that my palm had been lanced open by it.

Thus I had begun making her way towards a supply depot I had passed on my way to this point in the hopes of gaining a new speeder. At this point the only thing keeping me going was my supreme force of will.

As my weakened body climbed the final hill I found herself looking upon a group of ten approaching Imperial troopers. Six of them wore markings on their armor declaring them to be medics. I doubted Sylas would send a rescue party, but one could never be sure with the Mad Overseer. I slumped slowly to the ground, my cracked lips parting in a smile and my blistered skin ached for some shade. Four of the medics laid me upon a stretcher before lifting myself to waist height while the other two began feeding me introveniously fresh fluids.

The captain of the retinue asked, "This her?"

A medic ran a scanner over me before checking the results. "Rattataki slave, Female. Identifier chip says Xesha Crion."

They were wrong, my surname was Bahn. I tried to open my mouth to speak but found my strength fading faster and faster.

"So this slave thought she could steal from Darth Noctum." The Captain said again before bringing his rifle butt across my brow, just as enough strength to protest had surged into me. The world spun as I hit the sands of Korriban the blood from my palm spilling freely as well as from my brow.

Last time I had awoken with this much of a hangover was when I had challenged Trixis to a drinking contest. I learned then to never try to drink a Trandoshian sith-in-training under the table. When I tried to sit up a sharp electrical current surged through my body that only stopped when I laid back down. The current did not start again though for looking around so I did.

I was in the torture cells. The smell of electrically seared flesh and the screams told me that much. Before me stood what must have been a living shadow incarnate. Then my breath caught in my throat as I was levitated by a force choke. The Shock collar did not fry me as I hung in the the air otherwise I would not have been able to hear the mechanically augmented voice of Darth Noctum.

"Where is the Crystal?" The voice was calm as the Force slowly wrung the life from me.

I barely noticed as the torturers left and Overseer Sylas came in.

"You are sure-" Darth Noctum began before being interrupted by a splat of bloodied phlegm on the visor.

If I was going to die then I was going to spit in the face of death itself. Darth Noctum did not flinch nor show any inclination towards the insult. She did release the choke though dropping me to the floor.

"It is her, she managed to complete the trials and acquire the Crystal." Sylas said bowing before the shorter Darth.

Little was known of Darth Noctum. She had soared to the rank faster then any before her which made many on the Dark Council leery. Yet, upon attaining it, her ambition seemed to be satisfied. No one had seen her face or knew her race. Merely that no Dark Lord like her had ever existed before.

Overseer Sylas for his part was a Red Skinned Zabraak who had ritually filed his teeth to be more intimidating. He never carried a weapon, Though I had the fortune to see him disarm an upstart apprentice that had thought killing him would help them escape the torment. I had the further fortune of executing said student.

"She also activated it." That response got a sharp turn of the head from me to the Overseer By Noctum.

While they were bickering I tried to reach out with the Force, to feel the controls for my cell and release my from my barred prison. As I closed my eyes and breathed I reached out, but everything felt oily, slick, impossible to hold onto and use to any degree. Eeven feeling the eminations of darkness from the Darth or the anger of the Overseer. Something was dreadfully wrong.

My focus was brought back to the world as Noctum looked me in the eyes through her bug like mask. She stared at me intently I had to assume since seeing her eyes was impossible. After a few moment I looked away and gulped weakly. I could not sense anything clearly. It was like being blindfolded improperly.

"She survived the process. I can barely sense a hint of anything out of her. Outside of this room..." Noctum began before the Overseer interupted her.

"Maybe now is not the time." He said warilly.

"Have her sent to the Shadow of Taris... and remove that reidiculous choke collar." Noctum said before turning to leave.

Before she left though I managed to rasp as my sore throat fought every syllable due to the now removed Slave Collar. "What is going on?"

Darth Noctum merely chuckled. Sylas laughed himself into unconsiousness.


End file.
